I just had my interview today, and it was a little strange. Everything I had read about MIT interviews is that they are very casual and conversation like. However, my interviewer just had printed out a sheet of questions to ask me. Every time I tried to make the question and answer a conversation, they didn’t reciprocate. They also seemed busy and wanted to get it done really quickly. Also, many of the questions were kind of strange. They were very interested in my thoughts on the problems in the middle east and what we could do to fix it. I don’t think it went poorly, it was just a little awkward. I guess all interviewers are different. They only part I really enjoyed is when I got to ask them questions because they started to open up and talk more.
What do you think?
That sounds very much like my recent EC interview experience. Cold, impersonal, more interrogation than conversation, over quickly…
Yeah, there is of course going to be variance. From an MIT blogger Chris (not @MITChris , different one) EC’s are rated on the helpfulness of their report out of 5, so the idea is that the bad interviewers will get dropped. Mine went full conversation. I remember only 3 questions 1. what do you know about MIT that made you apply? 2. What do you do for fun/summer? 3. Do you do any sort of community service? ( this was relevant to the conversation we were having at the time)
I sat in a cafe this afternoon next to a young person being interviewed for MIT and both the student and the
interviewer were smiling, cheery, conversational and, from all I could determine by the look on the student’s face and the sound of the interviewer’s voice, things between them really flowed, with both at ease.
It was actually quite interesting to realize that these two people had only just met and were fulfilling formal requirements for an application of any sort.
As to why I was in the cafe…my own child had just interviewed for a college, and the interviewer struck my child as more formal (than the person from MIT at the next table) and seeking to tick off boxes which needed to be ticked off, and then slowly easing into revealing a more personable air. Their own differing geographic points of origin seemed their greatest talking point. My kid thought it was fine, in the end.
As you have stated, you think things went okay, though it felt a little weird. That may be consistent for that interviewer, and maybe “a little weird” is how others are also impacted by that interviewer.
Hopefully, it won’t sit with you and make you doubt yourself. Don’t let it. Good luck.
My MIT interview was awful. I don’t think I did badly, but it was a complete waste of time. The guy just asked questions (generic questions that the application asks anyway) and wrote down my answers word for word. There was no conversation.
It actually turned me off of the school. I asked what the environment was like and all he said was “it’s intense and it’s not easy” (Really? I thought I’d be a walk in the park… Not.) If you spent four years somewhere, you’d think you’d have better things to say about it… Or at least something different to say about it.
@lexrex how did he have enough time to copy the answers word for word? Seems pretty crazy…
Some of it was abbreviated, but there were other points where he’d have me pause mid-explanation so he could catch up, or have me repeat my exact phrasing so he could write it down in quotes. It all felt artificial
I have interviewed many an applicant for employment where I worked. One of the things I was always interested in during an interview was the “plays well with others” aspect of the person. Kind of the same interest in interviewing for MIT. You don’t really need detailed notes but just a few highlights to add to the interview report.
MIT provides some online training materials for EC’s but no other training. I had a short phone interview with the EC coordinator in my area prior to my appointment as an EC but no elaborate personal evaluation. So one would expect some good ECs and some not so good ECs.
I feel sorry for those that get a not so good EC for their interview but the good thing is that the interview is only part of the application process. Your letters of recommendation will also function as an indication (or at least they should) of what kind of person you are, which is the point of the interview.
Glad I didn’t read this before my interview lol. My interviewer was a nice lady who had just graduated. We mostly talked about the school and her experience. She said she’d write good things, so I’m pretty happy I wasn’t being interrogated.